I played Morrowind for a little on the XBox, but the disc was unbalanced or something, as it caused the entire machine (and the hutch it was in) to shake alarmingly. So I didn’t play long. I’ve just played Skyrim to death, of course. When I found Oblivion 5th Anniversary Edition for sale, I grabbed it. Partly I wanted to see the bit of story between Morrowind and Skyrim; partly I wanted another “Skyrim style” game; partly I wanted to see what the tech was like then.
Firstly, since this is the 5th Anniversary Edition, I suspect that many of the egregious bugs that plagued Oblivion as much as Skyrim (I assume) are fixed. Secondly, this has the DLC plus a “Special Features” disc. This makes for 3 discs – all on the one spindle, I might add.
I might post about the Special Features some other time – like when I’ve actually watched them – but for now, I’ve started my story as an Orc Thief. What can I say? I love the idea of a hulking brutish thief…
The graphics, while certainly not Skyrim level (of course), are still beautiful in their own way. There are hints of where they were heading in terms of how they portrayed the world. It’s slightly more cartoony, or more painting like, perhaps. I rather like the graphics so far, though, and it makes me want to explore the world – always a good thing to my mind. However, I wish they wouldn’t zoom in on people when you talk to them.
The sound is excellent, with a nice backing score, and lovely atmospheric effects. The acting is often a little stiffer than I’d like, but it serves the job so far.
The interface is close enough to Skyrim for me to be almost comfortable, and far enough away for me to be scrabbling to do the right action. However, it’s interesting, because I often thought Skyrim‘s menus and the like were a little plain and felt “unfinished”. However, seeing what’s been done in Oblivion, I think they went the right way in ditching a lot of the extraneous backgrounds and borders and simplifying the whole thing.
I haven’t had much of the story yet, as I’ve only just escaped the prison and made it to the outside world. It’s shaping up to be interesting so far. I hope it all pans out as Skyrim did.
